India at tipping point to democratise financial services: Experts

At a panel discussion late on Monday during the 'NITI Aayog Fintech' month, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) MD and CEO Dilip Asbe said: "We are sitting on a tipping point. Whether it's technology, coverage, or use cases, there is an opportunity for India to lead the world and I think we will."

New Delhi:When it comes to democratising financial services for a billion Indians using technology, the country is at a tipping point to achieve this and lead the world, experts have said. At a panel discussion late on Monday during the 'NITI Aayog Fintech' month, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) MD and CEO Dilip Asbe said: "We are sitting on a tipping point. Whether it's technology, coverage, or use cases, there is an opportunity for India to lead the world and I think we will."

The session covered a wide range of topics such as the digital economy architecture, digital public goods infrastructure, the cruciality of an empowered ecosystem, and the continued need for a simplistic approach to bring a billion Indians into the fold of the digital financial services ecosystem. "Expanding the digital payments ecosystem itself presents so many opportunities - from education, awareness to detection of fraud and many more. Moving 700 million people to the digital payment ecosystem is a herculean task and there is a lot of scope for phenomenal growth," said PhonePe co-founder and CTO, Rahul Chari.

The 'Fintech Open' month is a first-of-its-kind initiative bringing together regulators, professionals and enthusiasts, industry leaders, startup community, and developers on a common platform to collaborate, exchange ideas and innovate.

In an earlier session, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar said that India is witnessing increasing digitisation with people getting greater and easier access to financial services."This has led to a shift in consumers' financial behaviour - from cash to e-wallets and UPI. The expansion of digital payments is an important pivot for creating a more equitable, prosperous, and financially inclusive India," he added.

CRED Founder Kunal Shah, said in one of the sessions that the rate at which evolution of technology is happening, "we are more likely to witness a revolutionary adaptation to all things digital sooner rather than later"."Products designed to cater to every cohort, to solve unique pain points will be the talk of the town in the coming years," he noted.

Zerodha Co-Founder and CEO, Nithin Kamath, said that the government's recognition of cryptocurrency has come as a pleasant surprise in this year's budget." Platforms enabling start-up investing and such are going to get a lot more traction this year," he added.Razorpay Co-Founder and CEO, Harshil Mathur, said: "Embedded finance is likely to scale this year. Every company can scale their API in today's date and expand their ecosystems to solve a variety of problems."

IANS